Father Emanuel Youkhana, an archimandrite of the Assyrian Church of the East, looks through the rubble of a Syriac Catholic Church Jan. 27 in Qaraqosh, Iraq. The mannequin and poster were used as target practice. (CNS photo/Paul Jeffrey)
ishtartv.com - americamagazine.org
Denis
Grasska, August 15, 2017
Father
Emanuel Youkhana, an archimandrite of the Assyrian Church of the East, looks
through the rubble of a Syriac Catholic Church Jan. 27 in Qaraqosh, Iraq. The
mannequin and poster were used as target practice. (CNS photo/Paul Jeffrey)
EL
CAJON, Calif. (CNS) -- The Syriac Catholic patriarch doesn't mince words about
the ongoing violence and unrest in the Middle East.
Nor
does he shy away from calling out the West for not doing enough to protect
Christian minorities.
"I
can tell you, we've been not only abandoned by the Western countries, but even
we have been betrayed," Syriac Catholic Patriarch Ignace Joseph III Younan
told The Southern Cross,
newspaper of the Diocese of San Diego.
He
made the comments in a recent interview at Our Mother of Perpetual Help Syriac
Catholic Parish in El Cajon.
"We've
been not only abandoned by the Western countries, but even we have been
betrayed."
While
the Christian minority in Syria and Iraq is composed of "peaceful
people" who have been "working honestly for the well-being of their
countries," he said, these Christians are neither oil-rich nor do they
represent a terrorist threat to the West. Therefore, he said, they have been
essentially ignored by the West and "abandoned to our destiny."
The
Syriac Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic Church in communion with the
pope. Among the Catholic hierarchy, a patriarch is outranked only by the pope.
Patriarch
Younan, whose patriarchal see is based in Beirut, visited Our Mother of
Perpetual Help on July 24 as one stop on his pastoral visit to the Syriac
Catholic Eparchy of Our Lady of Deliverance, which has its headquarters in New
Jersey. The eparchy includes all Syriac Catholic parishes and missions in the
United States and Canada.
The
patriarch was accompanied by the head of the eparchy, Bishop Yousif B. Habash,
and Syriac Catholic Archbishop Yousif Abba of Baghdad.
In
conversation with The Southern Cross, Patriarch Younan lamented the
"horrendous war" in Syria that is now in its seventh year and he
contested the claim, which has been made by Western governments and media, that
there is a moderate Muslim faction among the rebel forces.
"It's
a lie," he said.
Meanwhile,
the situation in Iraq remains grim, he said. In that country, since the
U.S.-led invasion in 2003, "chaos" continues to reign, he said, and
more than 140,000 Christians -- about a third of whom are Syriac Catholics --
have fled the country.
This
exodus has been a "real tragedy" and poses a grave threat to the continued
existence of the region's Christian community, which is not seeking any special
privileges but simply the ability to live and worship without fear, he said.
"We
Christians in the Middle East ... are the indigenous communities of these
countries," Patriarch Younan said, noting that it was in this region that
Christianity was born. "We've been there for millennia and we have been
always persecuted. And now ... our very survival is at stake."
"We
Christians in the Middle East ... are the indigenous communities of these
countries."
Many
Syriac Catholics have simply given up on the possibility of stable government
in their homeland and have relocated to other countries, like the United
States, where they have been able to practice their faith in freedom and safety
at parishes such as Our Mother of Perpetual Help.
Patriarch
Younan, who as a priest helped establish Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in
1994, said he hopes that the opportunities afforded by life in the United
States will allow these members of his flock to grow even stronger in their
faith. Through his pastoral visit, he hoped to impart a hopeful message to the
first-generation immigrants and to encourage younger generations to walk a
"path of joyful service."
Regrettably,
Patriarch Younan said, Western leaders have succumbed to "pandering"
and utilizing "politically correct language" in their dealings with
the Middle East.
He
said that, unless the United States and European nations demonstrate that they
have the political will to speak honestly with the region's leaders, helping
them to create "a civilized constitution" and insisting that they
separate religion and politics, "there is no hope for the future."
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